EvoTox · Evolutionary toxicology by anthropogenic pollution in invasive crayfish populations
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2021-10-11 → 2023-10-10
- EU contribution
- €196,708
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Evolutionary toxicology by anthropogenic pollution in invasive crayfish populations
The “EvoTox” PROJECT Climate change is a major scientific challenge and has gradually led to biodiversity loss over the last decades. This in turn has opened up opportunities to invasive alien species (IAS) to establish in new environments, and altogether causing ecological, economic and social repercussions. Little is known about the mechanisms that increase the invasive capacity of species. Recently, a growing body of examples has evidence the link between invasive species and rapid evolution, which provides some species with a better biological response to deal with environmental stress, and to perform better in all kind of environments, including environments with chemical pollution. However, evolutionary changes are still not taken in consideration in Invasive Species Predictive Schemes and risk assessments, which affects the predictive power of the schemes and complicate their evaluation. The awareness of the potential of organisms to adapt to environmental toxicants dates back to early 20th century, however, the view of evolution as a contemporary process that can effect change from one generation to the next has only recently been consider. In this context, the EvoTox project addressed the link between invasive species and rapid evolution in polluted environments by testing pollutants as a driver for rapid evolution, using a multidisciplinary and innovative approach. In EvoTox, we used molecular methods and physiological, morphological and behavioural analyses. This comprehensive approach was essential for drawing a more accurate picture of the impacts of chemical pollutants on populations and ecosystems. Conclusions In the EvoTox project population-specific phenotypic responses were identified in P. clarkii when individuals from polluted and pristine environments were exposed to a pesticide cocktail at sublethal concentrations in a laboratory setup, suggesting local adaptation at the population level. Our results evidenced that local adaptation and plasticity within each population play a key role in the physiological and phenotypic response to environmental stress. Therefore, this study highlights the importance of taking in consideration rapid evolution and population-specific responses for Invasive Species Predictive Schemes and risk assessments.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Climate change and biodiversity loss are one of the biggest threats facing the world in the next decade. Invasive alien species (IAS) are one of the most important direct drivers of biodiversity loss. While evolutionary processes and rapid adaptation have recently been linked with the increase of invasive capacity of IAS, still there is little known about the mechanisms involved in their success. EvoTox is an interdisciplinary project that seeks to address how IAS populations can evolve and adapt rapidly in response to environmental stressors. EvoTox focuses more particularly on the study of the mechanisms that facilitate the rapid adaptation of the crayfish Procambarus clarkii in aquatic areas with high-level of anthropogenic pollutants. The study involves both field and laboratory approaches using technics from several scientific fields such as evolutionary biology, toxicology, physiology, ethology and molecular biology. The studied populations come from three sampling stations, with freshwater and brackish water bodies, around the French Mediterranean coastline and adjacent aquatic areas, where P. clarkii has successfully established and environmental characteristics such as salinity and chemical pollutant concentrations differ. Understanding the mechanisms that contributes to the rapid and adaptive evolution in P. clarkii is important for identifying candidate genes involved in invasiveness, and, more generally, predicting future invasion scenarios, improving management and risk assessment of IAS in Europe and worldwide. EvoTox also contributes to the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 by addressing IAS issues and their ecological and economic repercussions. EvoTox includes the training and the two-way transfer of knowledge between the researcher and the host institution. The research, scientific and transferable skills acquired during the EvoTox project will have a direct impact in the development of my scientific career.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS · ParisCoordinatorFrance
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union